On Saturday, my work hosted a BBQ and fishing day for some of our kids and their families. And although I was completely knackered by the end of it - it was kinda fun. It was also very Japanese.
The day started early with a long drive to the fishing place. We car pooled and Emily and I rode up with Yukari. I even remembered to bring my ipod adapter thing so I tortured Yurkari and Emily with the Sensei-Road-Trip-Mix. The weather was pretty crappy and it was drizzling when we got there.
The fishing place is in the middle of nowhere and all I knew about it was that the fish were farmed. Here's a picture of one of the fishing ponds.
This is one of the natural looking fishing ponds that was quite pretty considering it was raining and I was freezing cold.Our area was located up the steps and we had three ponds in a row. Basically you get a bamboo fishing pole with fishing line tied to the end, a hook and a float. You use a weird flour and water mixed into a paste as bait and you squish it onto the hook and then you dangle the line in the water and bring in the fish. Early in the day, the fish were being caught very quickly but the catch rate slowed down as the fish gorged themselves on lost bait.
Here's Megan and I in front of the ponds helping to set out the fishing poles before everyone arrived.
This is where we did all our fishing. Miraculously, we didn't have a single kid fall in the drink.While we supervised the fishing extravaganza, Carl (our boss) was busy firing up the mud oven. Yes, you read correctly. Last year the girls got roped into helping to make a genuine mud oven. Unfortunately the fishing day was rained out last year, so this year was the triumpant debut of the mud oven to cook home-made bread. All of the families that came to fishing, were given the instructions for preparing bread dough to bring along to be cooked in the oven. It was a tremendous success and the kids were so excited to see "their" bread being cooked.
Here's Carl with a couple of kids, showing off their mud-oven cooked bread.In the afternoon, Carl opened the water drains on each of the ponds and drained them. Of course there are some fish left in the bottom and all the kids take off their sneakers, put on thongs and jump into the sludgy water in the bottom and catch the remaining fish with their hands. While we didn't have to get in the pond, we all did. I was really freaked out at first because the water is so muddy and the fish touch your feet as you slosh around. Actually, it was horrific at first, but by the time we got to the third pond, I wanted to catch a fish of my very own. In fact I was so eager to actually catch one that I ended up on my arse in ankle deep sludgey water. Nice one. Needless to say that I didn't end up catching a damn fish.
All the fish that we caught during the day were taken down to a little shack where half of them were salted and the other half deep fried. Every family got three of each to take home with them. All in all, it was an excellent day.
When everyone one had packed up and gone home, we all piled into the cars and drove to a traditional Japanese hotel for the night. We had an awesome banquet meal when we got there and the only that could have improved was if my arse hadn't still be damp.
After dinner, I joined the girls for my first onsen experience. For those unfamilar with the onsen, essentially it is just communal bathing (usually segregated). You firstly scrub yourself clean whilst sitting on a little stool in a long bathroom. Unfortunately there were seven of us girls and only six sets of taps and stools so Emily and I shared a stool. Needless to say that I've never shared a small stool with a naked co-worker before. Once you are all clean, you get in the hot water pool which is usually piped hot spring water. The hotel we stayed at had an outside onsen (with big tall fences to ensure our modesty) so it was kinda nice to look up at the stars. It would have been even better if I could have seen the lovely garden too, but without my spectacles grit and fleas look alike (although why a flea would be wearing my spectacles....*).
After onsen we had a quick drink and I collapsed into bed.
*Thankyou Vyvyan, for that pertinant quote.
